Of Birthdays and Butterfly Kisses
by intertwingular
Summary: Rin's birthday is here, and for once, it doesn't feel so alone. Why? Because he's spending it with the team.
1. Chapter 1

**Of Birthdays and Butterfly Kisses**

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><p>Rin had never really enjoyed his birthday.<p>

In Australia, they always felt empty, desolate even.

Until a parcel, wrapped with simple, rough, tan paper, and bound with twine came.

Haru's gift to him.

They had stopped coming after they had raced, and Rin had left, bitter thoughts brewing in his mind.

Haru had quit swimming after that.

But today, this year, he was back in Japan, back with the team, (plus one. He had mixed feelings about Rei joining the team. Jealous, nawww. Not him.)  
>Rin ran his hand blindly across the smooth surface of the messy desk in the dorm room, until his hand collided with an unknown object.<p>

Rings?

Rin opened his magenta eyes, and his pupils grew small.

This was the sketchbook.

THE sketchbook.

It was the last gift Haru had given to him-before they raced.

Leaning over, Rin grabbed the book, and began flipping through the pages.

He had no idea how it had gotten onto his desk. Last he remembered, he had left it on the floor, in the empty laundry basket. But, whatever. He'd try to figure that out later. Maybe Aiichirou had moved it.

The first page was always a welcome sight.

It was a beautiful drawing of the cherry blossom tree, during spring, with all their messages drawn on the bricks surrounding it.

_For the Team_

_Free_

_I Swim_

They were, and always had been the swimming weirdos of the grade.

Well, Haru being the weirdest of them all.

Next page.

Nagisa, Mako, and him, all smiling, bobbing in the pool.

They had been joking around, until Nagisa had fell in, taking Mako with him, who took Rin with him, who pulled Haru in as well.

Nagisa had ended up snorting water out of his nose.

Next page.

It was a picture with all of them, even Rei.

Oh, yeah.

It was at a Christmas party, and they had all been really uncomfortable, so they eventually met Rei, who was attempting to escape out the window.

(Despite what he claims, he really wasn't all that intelligent when he was younger.)

They had ended up having a great time.

The drawings were colored vividly, and Rin smiled.

Only Haru, who acted so unemotional could do something like this.

The last page came up, and Rin's hand quavered.

It was a drawing of them holding up the relay trophy, all of them grinning like maniacs, except for Haru, who was looking away from the camera, a total robot like usual.

That hadn't changed, had it?

Rin reached to close the book, but a new page fell out.

It was a new drawing.

One that Rin was sure hadn't been there when he had first gotten the book of drawings.

It was a sketch, unfinished, unpolished, yet it instantly became Rin's favorite.

It was them, including Rei, at the tournament, all of them laughing.

Why that little-

Haru had come into Rin's dorm to see what was keeping him up last night, when the team had plans.

Obviously, he had slipped this in there, and left the sketchbook on his desk.

Jeez, the guy was sneakier than he thought.

But, it was wonderful.

Jeez, he really was a sap, wasn't he?

But, for his birthday, he got another sketchbook from the raven-haired swimmer.

And on the opening page, was a completed version of the sketch that had fallen out of the book.

He leaned over and kissed Haru.

Sometimes he wondered who was the bigger sap: him or his boyfriend.

But still, he couldn't of asked for a better birthday present.


	2. Chapter 2: Butterflies

**Butterflies**

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><p>Rin watched with a form of slight amusement as Nagisa chased a butterfly around the pool area of Iwotabi, yelling something about good luck and love.<p>

It was too bad Haru wasn't here at the moment.

The swimmer was currently at a college interview. Rin had already gotten into a college, and it so happened to be the one that Haru had been asked to come into for a interview.

(In other words, Rin showed the administrators a video he took of Haru racing against Makoto during practice.)

Hopefully, he'd get in.

Honestly, Rin knew that Haru was perfectly capable of taking care of himself-after all, he had been living by himself since his second year of high school. But, Rin could't help but worry about his absent-minded boyfriend. Really, he'd probably end up on the train to the beach everyday if nobody made sure that he got off at the right stop on the train to school.

Ah, well.

Later, the iron gate creaked open, and it was about twenty-five minutes after one. Haru stepped into the pool area, his backpack slung over his left shoulder.  
>"Hey Haru-chan!" Nagisa came running up to Haru, tackling him, and somehow he managed to bring the black-haired swimmer down despite his tiny size, and they crashed into Rin, taking all of them into the pool. Rin was spluttering out water and Nagisa was laughing, and Haru, Haru was just floating around under the water, and Rin realized that Haru still had his swim suit underneath his pants.<p>

Well, Haru would be Haru.

The two of them ended up floating side by side, and the butterfly-the stupid thing that Nagisa had been chasing that entire time landed on their intertwined hands.

Well, butterflies stand for love.

Maybe Nagisa was right.

Just that once.

_**Just that once.**_

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><p><strong>Hello! I've decided to turn this into a collection of one-shots, due to some convincing from a friend. <strong>

**Well. **

**Hello, my name is Rin. **

**No seriously, it is Rin.**

**But, this is my story, and well, welcome!**

**Hope to see you soon,**

** Rin, AKA, HuntingStarlight.**


	3. Valentine's Day and Cinnamon Kisses

**Valentines and Cinnamon Sugar Kisses**

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><p>It started during Valentine's Day, late at night.<p>

There was a marathon on television of these really old samurai movies, and Rin was sitting on Haru's couch with the couch's owner.

It was sort of cold for February, and a blanket was thrown around the two boy's feet.

College applications had been sent, and acceptance letters had been received. Both boys were going to the same college, both were still swimming.

Haru's head was resting on Rin's shoulder, and the redhead could't help but think that if there was a year of the cat, that'd be Haru's zodiac animal.  
>Rin's arm was around Haru's shoulder closest to him. His hand was right over Haru's heart, and he could feel his heart beating, and the steady rise and fall of his chest. Haru's weight had shifted on Rin's shoulder, and the older boy could only assume that he had fallen asleep.<p>

Not that Rin could blame him. Those movies were pretty boring.

He could probably think of something else besides this that would be ten times more entertaining.

Hell, even math would probably be more entertaining at this point in time.

And Rin sucked at math.

A breeze tickled his ear, and Rin moved to push Haru's head off of his shoulder. He was heavy, and Rin's shoulder was going numb.

"Hey...Haru, could you try and move off of my shoulder? I think you're cutting off my circulation." Rin saw Haru groan and lift his head up groggily, the fog of sleep evident in his dark blue eyes. Despite that, he still leaned back into the couch, leaving Rin's shoulder unoccupied. Laughing a little at Haru's antics, Rin moved his arm so that it hung around the younger boy's right shoulder.  
>He leant over, and kissed him on the forehead. Rin felt Haru huff a little, as the latter leant into the former's chest.<br>Rin hugged Haru just a little bit closer into his chest, and Haru just closed his eyes, and tried to sleep.  
>Rin leaned forward, and buried his face into Haru's silky strands of black hair.<br>"I want to go to the pool Rin." Haru's voice was muffled by Rin's black wife-beater, and Rin detected traces of sleep lingering in it's wake. Checking the time, Rin replied,  
>"Are you sure? Haru it's...uh...twelve o'clock. How are we-"<p>

"Nagisa always leaves the pool gate open." Rin faltered.

"So he does..." Haru began to rise up from the couch, and the blanket fell off from his feet as he stretched.

Sighing, Rin got up from the couch, shaking off pins and needles. Trust Haru to want to go swimming, despite the fact that it was twelve in the morning-no scratch that, it was almost one. Standing next to Haru, Rin wrapped his arms around him, and rested his chin onto the former's shoulder.

"Hmmmm...do you really want to go?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes Rin."

"You're sure."

"Yes."

"You're really sure?"

"Yes Rin."

"You're really, really, really-"

"Yes Rin."

"Geez Haru, it's kind of cold for that, don't you think? Jumping into the pool in April I can understand, but in February, that's a little extreme."  
>Plopping into the couch again, Rin watched as Haru stared out the window forlornly. Letting out an exasperated huff, Rin got up and embraced his boyfriend.<p>

"Come on Haru. You can go swimming another time OK?"  
>Rin felt the person in his arms relax a little.<p>

"Good." And Rin leaned over, and kissed him on his lips.  
>They tasted like sea water, mackerel, and for some strange reason, a warm, sweet cinnamon and sugar taste that masked all the other tastes.<br>It was a long kiss, sweet and loving, and Rin knew that it wasn't filled with urgency and need, or fear and sadness.

It was just a long, simple, and sweet kiss on Valentine's Day.

Nothing more, nothing less

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><p><strong>I just realized something.<strong>

**I spelled my name wrong.**

**Well, that's what I get for posting when I have jet lag.**

**Allow me to reintroduce myself.**

**I am Ren, otherwise known as HuntingStarlight.**

**And, I also realized that Valentines Day was ages ago, and I'm posting this now because I was in Mexico, and I don't have an International Calling plan, and WiFi at the resort costed money.**

**Well, better late than never.**

**Enjoy!**

**Ren, AKA, HuntingStarlight.**


End file.
